Happy 2007(77)!

Well we promised it wouldn’t be long before we showed off our first project. So without further ado, here it is! The ever-popular Boeing 777!

The 777 first entered service in June of 1995 for United Airlines and has enjoyed a reputation of excellent twinjet service ever since. The 777-200ER was first delivered to British Airways in 1996, the -300 to Cathay Pacific in 1998, -300ER to Japan Airlines in 2003, and the -200LR to Pakistan International Airways in 2006. Boeing’s latest 777 venture, the 777 freighter, is scheduled to enter service in late 2008.

The 777 was Boeing’s first aircraft to be designed entirely by computer. It was assembled and tested in 3-D before any components were ever built. The 777 engines, as wide as a 737 fuselage, are the largest engines ever fitted to a commercial aircraft. Available with three engine types (Pratt & Whitney PW4000 series, General Electric GE90, or Rolls Royce Trent 800), the 777 has a diverse range of options for its customers.

The XPJets 777-200ER has been built in painstaking detail. Great care has been taken in assuring that the geometry is as accurate as possible within the confines of Plane Maker modeling. The engines however are a step towards the future as they are built in Blender and exported to the new OBJ8 format which allows for much more complex geometry to be built and animated. Future aircraft at XPJets will incorporate obj exclusively as the external model allowing for greater detail, texture resolution, and model functionality.

Countless hours have been spent flying the aircraft between the three of us here and some of the best pilots in the X-Plane community. We are pleased to inform you that the model is consistently hitting flight numbers throughout the flight envelope.

Furthermore, with the help of several highly cooperative and generous airliners.net photographers, I am putting the finishing touches on a brand new photorealistic panel for the aircraft. It’s not in a state I feel comfortable revealing for public consumption yet, but stay tuned. I’m sure I’ll have something to show on that front sooner rather than later.

Now, without further ado, onto the screenshots! (Click images to open larger views).

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Published:
1.15.07 / 7pm
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Projects
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